I spent five years at Forbes writing about business and leadership, attracting nearly one million unique visitors to Forbes.com each month. While here, I assistant edited the annual World’s 100 Most Powerful Women package and helped launch and grow ForbesWoman.com. I've appeared on CBS, CNBC, MSNBC and E Entertainment and speak often at conferences and events on women's leadership topics. I graduated summa cum laude from New York University with degrees in journalism and sociology and was honored with a best in business award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW) in 2012. My work has appeared in Businessweek, Ladies’ Home Journal, The Aesthete and Acura Style. I live in New York City with my husband and can be found on Twitter @Jenna_Goudreau, Facebook, and Google+.

The Best-Paying Jobs You Can Do From Anywhere

According to a recent survey of over 3,000 business owners, the future of work may not require office plans. More than half (57%) of millennials surveyed plan to at least double their spending on online workers in 2013, while 82% believe within the next 10 years many businesses will be built completely with virtual teams of online workers.

“Younger workers don’t want to limit themselves to commuting and cubes,” says Michael Haaren, cofounder and CEO of jobs website Rat Race Rebellion and coauthor of Work at Home Now. “Several trends support the prediction that working from anywhere will soon be the new norm.”

More companies are ramping up their hiring of anywhere workers who don’t need to come into or even be near the corporate office. Haaren says businesses like American Express, Amazon, United Health and Aetna are some of many realizing that hiring more virtual workers gives them access to millions of potential candidates rather than the hundred or so within a 50-mile radius. It also saves businesses on commercial real estate costs and reduces turnover, as workers become ironically loyal when offered their freedom.

Some forward-thinking businesses are beginning to innovate around the idea of anywhere work. Coworking centers are sprouting up across the country to offer freelancers, road warriors, entrepreneurs and home-office workers the option to rent an office for the day, week or however long they need it, in whatever city they’re in at the time.

The idea has even roused a few deep-pocketed investors. Through his investment firm Revolution, AOL founder Steve Case backed startup Loosecubes in March, which matches virtual workers with companies that have free desk space. Meanwhile, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Starbucks’ Howard Schultz are two of the many big names helping fund General Assembly, a global network of coworking campuses with a sprawling, 20,000-square-foot space in New York, NY.

One day, anywhere workers may also be able to work from the road. Literally. Haaren points to new WiFi-equipped Ford, Chevrolet and Mercedes models, which turn cars into internet hotspots on wheels. If Google’s self-driving “robot car” takes hold, he envisions a future of “rolling workstations.”

So where are these high-paying virtual jobs that can be done anywhere from your couch to your local coffee shop?

Many of the best-paying are concentrated in health care. Increasingly, health-care professionals are being hired by hospitals and insurance companies to consult or assist remotely. Teleradiologists, for example, view digitally transmitted patient images and confer with the primary doctor via videoconferencing. As one of the highest paid medical specialties, they can make anywhere from $100,000 to $400,000 annually, depending on experience level and hours worked. Haaren says companies like Virtual Radiologic, Imaging on Call and Radiology 24/7 are some of the many now employing them.

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How about more on the real virtual jobs that pay more than the pittance people can make as “Amazon Turks”‘ billed as “artificial artificial intelligence” they are real but pay a living wage only if you live in Bangladesh.

Young college grads I know look for lots of these, most of them seem to require going through a long online application process ending with a screen that wants your credit card number.

Great article! Thanks for promoting virtual work. As the founder of a Professional Virtual Services company I can attest to the ever growing number of businesses that come to us for support and to the quality of services our home workers provide. Definitely the way of the future!

I’m not Jenna but I hope this helps. Check out the Rat Race Rebellion website. There’s a link in Jenna’s article (above). They list legitimate work at home companies on their website. They even categorize by job type. You can subscribe to a daily newsletter – as I have – or just visit their website regularly. I’ve also found some legit telecommuting jobs on simplyhired.com and indeed.com. Those jobs aren’t vetted – to my knoweldge.

Curious to know about highest paid professions! The qualification, aspiration and the intent of the student is basically to get a job that pays him. There are various companies and government organizations that pay the top most salary to deserving people. A lucrative job is expected by each and every individual. Chakreview have a very good list of high paid professions.

After years making the trek to Wall Street(Maiden Place) I was able to find the right opportunity with a consulting firm. Instead of handling underwriting and risk analysis for one firm I am now engaged in doing the same type of work for Peabody Chase Consulting. PCC underwrites risk for several small to medium size hedge funds that seek to deploy capital. The ability to work from almost anywhere in the world is a bonus I love to travel and recently have gone to Chicago,Louisiana, and soon to Saudi Arabia for projects. The work always challenges me to test my talents the pay is mid six figures. PCC is always looking for more talent as we have recently have international investors coming aboard. If you do decide to make the change to working from home the best advice I can offer is to be prepared to WORK! You must be self motivated and be able to work without supervision. Most of my projects are handled by teams so i don’t often feel I’m out “of the loop” There are lots more conference calls and video conferences.

I completely agree. because over the past decade, there’s been an explosion in freelance work, which is a huge opportunity for skilled knowledge workers to create more financial independence for themselves. On a side note, the decreasing quality of service provided by software and other vendors has also created a huge freelance opportunity.